feat(rules): add visuals-display rule for EAT and a zsh word-split note

interaction.md gains a Showing Craig Visuals section: EAT renders SendUserFile and inline images as a text line, so visuals open in the browser or imv (per desktop-capture.md), with inline sixel as the quick-glance lane behind a capability gate (patched EAT answering CSI 14 t plus tmux terminal-features sixel, diagnosed 2026-07-13). protocols.org gains the zsh no-word-split gotcha next to the exa alias note. takuzu sent the proposal as inbox handoff 2026-07-11-2137; the sixel findings correct its capability claim.

3 files changed, 23 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.ai/protocols.org b/.ai/protocols.org
index 1b41989..ebe14d1 100644
--- a/.ai/protocols.org
+++ b/.ai/protocols.org
@@ -367,6 +367,12 @@ Craig's shell aliases =ls= to =exa=, which prints nothing to non-TTY pipes (e.g.
 - Applies to =ls -la=, =ls -t=, glob expansions piped through =ls=, and any =ls= invocation whose output gets read programmatically.
 - Symptom if forgotten: the Bash tool returns empty output and you mistakenly conclude the directory is empty.
 
+*** zsh does not word-split unquoted variables
+The Bash tool runs zsh, which (unlike bash) does not split an unquoted =$var= on whitespace. =chrome $urls= passes all the space-joined URLs as one malformed argument.
+
+- Loop over the values, use an array, or force the split with =${=var}=.
+- Symptom if forgotten: a command that "works in bash" gets one garbled argument and fails, often silently (from the takuzu session, 2026-07-11).
+
 ** Miscellaneous Information
 - Craig currently lives in New Orleans, LA
 - Craig's phone number: 510-316-9357
diff --git a/claude-rules/interaction.md b/claude-rules/interaction.md
index 9148b4f..8d65799 100644
--- a/claude-rules/interaction.md
+++ b/claude-rules/interaction.md
@@ -57,3 +57,14 @@ In conversational output to the user, do not use Markdown bold (`**...**`) or in
 - Fenced code blocks (triple backtick) are acceptable when the user explicitly wants a block to copy — they don't invert the way inline spans do. Default to plain text otherwise.
 
 This governs **chat output**, not the Markdown source of rule files, specs, or docs the user reads in an editor — those keep normal Markdown formatting. The constraint is the terminal rendering of the live conversation.
+
+## Showing Craig Visuals
+
+Craig runs Claude Code inside Emacs EAT (through tmux). EAT renders SendUserFile and inline terminal images as an `[image] path.png` text line — the visual itself never appears. In one session ~20 renders went out that way and Craig approved UI he had never seen (takuzu, 2026-07-11). Never rely on SendUserFile or inline image display to show a visual. SendUserFile stays fine for *delivering* a file; it just doesn't display one.
+
+Two display lanes, by what the visual is for:
+
+- **Durable or interactive visuals** — HTML prototypes, full renders, anything Craig will study or click: open in the browser (`google-chrome-stable "file://<abs-path>" &>/dev/null &`) or imv, on a separate workspace per `desktop-capture.md`.
+- **Quick inline glances** — a chart, a did-it-render check: sixel in the terminal. Encode with ImageMagick (`magick <img> sixel:<out>`; img2sixel silently emits zero bytes on some builds) and display in a separate tmux window (`tmux new-window -d -n <name>`, then `tmux send-keys -t <name> "clear; cat <out>" Enter`, tell Craig the window name) rather than the Claude Code pane, whose TUI repaints over anything drawn into it. With native tmux sixel active, the image lives in tmux's grid and survives window switches, scrolling, and resizing.
+
+**Capability gate.** Native sixel needs two config pieces: EAT answering the XTWINOPS cell-size query (patched eat.el, owned by .emacs.d) and `terminal-features 'xterm*:sixel'` in tmux.conf (owned by dotfiles). Check before relying on it: `tmux display -p '#{client_cell_width}'` — nonzero means go; 0 means the chain is missing a piece, so fall back to the browser lane. (Diagnosed 2026-07-13: tmux won't transmit sixel until it knows the client's cell pixel size, and stock EAT 0.9.4 silently ignores the CSI 14 t query tmux uses to ask.)
diff --git a/claude-templates/.ai/protocols.org b/claude-templates/.ai/protocols.org
index 1b41989..ebe14d1 100644
--- a/claude-templates/.ai/protocols.org
+++ b/claude-templates/.ai/protocols.org
@@ -367,6 +367,12 @@ Craig's shell aliases =ls= to =exa=, which prints nothing to non-TTY pipes (e.g.
 - Applies to =ls -la=, =ls -t=, glob expansions piped through =ls=, and any =ls= invocation whose output gets read programmatically.
 - Symptom if forgotten: the Bash tool returns empty output and you mistakenly conclude the directory is empty.
 
+*** zsh does not word-split unquoted variables
+The Bash tool runs zsh, which (unlike bash) does not split an unquoted =$var= on whitespace. =chrome $urls= passes all the space-joined URLs as one malformed argument.
+
+- Loop over the values, use an array, or force the split with =${=var}=.
+- Symptom if forgotten: a command that "works in bash" gets one garbled argument and fails, often silently (from the takuzu session, 2026-07-11).
+
 ** Miscellaneous Information
 - Craig currently lives in New Orleans, LA
 - Craig's phone number: 510-316-9357